Book Review

Charitable
giving is part of most religions in some form or another. It plays an important
role in the western religions, and is incumbent on Muslim believers to the
extent that it is one of the five pillars of faith. Given its important social
and religious role, how charity is perceived and interpreted within a given
society speaks to the broader context of that society's outlook.

Charity in Islamic Societies, as
the title suggests, explores the role charity has played, and continues to play
in the lives of Muslims. The book is not a chronological narrative of how
notions of charity developed and evolved in Muslim societies, and is neither a
comparative treatment of the subject. The introduction rather states that the
book's intent is to serve "as an introduction to the study of charity for
scholars and students of Islamic societies and at the same time as an
introduction to this aspect of Islamic societies for scholars and students of
charity (27)." The specific chapters then "focus more specifically on ideas and
examples [on charity] from Islamic history (27)."

In addition to an introduction and conclusion,
the book is divided into five chapters–each engaged in a particular facet
of charitable giving. The first chapter looks at zakat (obligatory
giving) and sadaqa (voluntary giving). This chapter draws mainly from
classical sources, but also includes contemporary sources. Its role seems to be
to define terminology, explore the diverse interpretations and practices, and
outline the mechanisms of charitable giving and how these mechanisms changed
across different geographic and temporal landscapes.

The second chapter starts by placing the cycle
of giving within an annual context within the Muslim calendar. It also looks at
life events and other significant events that provoke charitable giving (such
as rites of passage and other defining moments). The chapter ends by discussing waqf (endowments in perpetuity) with revenues designated to
beneficiaries who could be the poor or the donor's descendents. Endowments took
the form of gardens, bathhouses, or buildings that could be donated by any
property owner regardless of gender or religious persuasion. Thus waqf provided a vehicle for women and non-Muslims to play a role in the public
sphere.

Chapter three focuses on the donors and links
patronage, social power, and charity. The introduction summarizes the intent of
chapter three as "[patronage and charity] describe dynamic relationships that
create, signal, or reaffirm gradients of power, and ties of patron and client,
and imply uneven reciprocity (22)." The chapter also provides biographical
accounts of a few prominent personalities in Muslim history known for their
charitable contributions. It explores how these donations enhanced their
influence in the public sphere, and what these contributions signaled.

Charity requires both donors and recipients.
While there is a good deal of information on the donors, there is generally
little on the recipients. As scant as the information is, there are still
methods available to gain insights on the beneficiaries. Chapter four profiles
these beneficiaries and draws some interesting insights. Patronage networks
developed solidarity groups that in turn distinguished between "insiders" and
"outsiders." This distinction was then used as one of the criteria to
determine how much charity an individual was to receive. Hence "outsider poor"
were either excluded or got less food from Ottoman public kitchens. As charity
and patronage were so closely related, an individual could be both a recipient
and donor of charity. This insight is not unique to Muslim societies, as it can
be found in some eastern societies as well. The text highlights Sufis who
renounced all worldly possessions and were completely dependent on the
generosity of others for their existence. Not all Sufis renounced worldly
possessions, however; some plied their trade, and in some cases were very
wealthy or wielded enormous political power.

As colonial rule started to wane in the Muslim
lands (from the nineteenth century onwards), institutions directly controlled
by state bureaucracies started to emerge. Charitable organizations--once
independent of the state--now fell under their control, or at least under their
influence. Chapter five (the last substantive chapter) explores the phenomenon
of centralized state controlled charitable institutions. Charitable giving went
from one based on individual need or social standing to a set of uniform
criteria that did not always consider the beneficiaries' particulars. Giving
also became more impersonal, and institutions were not immune from corruptions
and alienation. In the post-colonial era, waqf administration came under
direct government control. Waqf charities were subjected (sometimes for
the first time) to state taxation and sometimes carried out state-sponsored
agendas. This discussion would have provided added diversity if it had
considered other variations to charitable institutions that occurred in areas
outside the Ottoman Empire's influence. The generalizations would perhaps have
been broader and more nuanced than implied by this chapter.

The text at the outset states that it is not
intended to be comprehensive either in its historical coverage, or in its
exposure of the diversity found in charitable giving in the Muslim lands.
Instead it is intended to start a dialogue that would lead to further research
into the study of charity. While there is a paucity of historical detail
concerning the topic, which would understandably limit research, the narrative
does not provide a theoretical framework on which to explore charity
academically. Koranic verses are quoted, but the exegetical tradition (and its
different interpretations) is under-emphasized. Hence the detailed examples
lack a cohesive framework that would tie them all together–especially
since they are drawn from several different geographical regions and across
different time periods. Students of Muslim cultures realize that
interpretations of Islam vary widely across geographical and temporal expanses,
and trying to study one aspect of these cultures (such as charity) across all
of these geographical and temporal spaces without a framework leaves the reader
with a collection of examples. Thus while the research is extensive, the text
would have benefitted from a unifying framework.

What the book does best is to drive home the
central role of charity in the social and religious life of Muslims, both past
and present. It also decouples the link between charitable giving and acts of
terrorism (something that has entered the general public's psyche since the
tragedy of 9/11 and its aftermath). Those interested in further study of the
role of charity in Islam would benefit from the extensive bibliography. Hence
this book would be useful to those who are looking for an introduction to
charity within the Islamic context, and to those who wish to compare acts of
charity within the Islamic context with those in other contexts.

Muhammed
Hassanali is an independent scholar of Muslim cultures and civilizations. He
can be reached at hassanali@juno.com.

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